Gourmand

I've made arrangements to work from home most of the summer. I had to be here to keep an eye on Matthew and to drive him back and forth to work. I was lucky that I was able to get this arrangement and am pretty happy with it. That leaves me time to prep dinners. Since I travel to NYC most of the time, dinner preparation has been left to Tony most of the time. Usually we try to do something quick and simple so we wouldn't wind up eating too late. Since I've been home, Tony has been happy to pass the responsibility back to me.

He will often return home from work and will find cornmeal crusted onion rings, Italian pub burgers, pulled pork with home made bbq sauce, double chocolate ganache cupcakes, chicken roasted with fresh herbs and lots of garlic and lots of freshly made banana bread. Today, I decided to make home made pretzels stuffed with cheddar and parmesan cheese topped with sesame seeds, garlic, herbs and kosher salt. I think I've definitely missed my calling as a private chef.

Tony's cousin will be here at the end of the week visiting from Italy. She'll be coming to stay with us and I'll need to come up with a menu for her visit. I don't know if I want to risk trying to make home made pasta for an Italian from Italy. Perhaps I should just feed her Chinese food. Everyone likes Chinese food right?

Sandi's Visit

Sandi and Nicholas came to town to visit. It's been a while since we've seen each other. She's now relocated to North Carolina and due to the constraints of the kids in school, it makes it hard for us to see each other. She came up, May came up with the kids and we had a great dinner at a fabulous restaurant in Downtown Stamford. We celebrated Matthew's graduation and it was great to see the kids chatting with one another...OK- maybe not chatting so much but more like texting. It seems to be the norm these days for Jocelyn and Matthew to be seated next to one another and to be texting. Whatever happened to the art of conversation? Thank goodness for unlimited texting.

We had a great dinner and wandered over to a crepe place after dinner for dessert. The kids each had crepes and were nicely sugared up before we headed home. Sandi and Nicholas will be here for the week and it will be great to spend some time with them. Matthew has started to work his volunteer "job" for the summer. He's volunteering 25 hours a week at Piper's Hill. That's the childcare center that he started with when he was an infant and I was a member of the Board of Directors. I figured it was better to have him there than frying his brains out playing mindless video games. At least he's giving back to the community. This will continue through the whole summer and maybe he'll work some hours once he start high school. Matthew will be taking Nicholas to work with him on Friday and Sandi and I already have plans for the few hours that we will be without kids. That is a luxury that we don't get too often.

Reunion with Amy

Amy (far left in the photo) is a former colleague of Tony's from ATC in Shanghai. They worked together while in Shanghai and we've kept in touch. She has arrived in the United States for business and it was nice to see Amy again. Amy stated that the whole gang at ATC misses the baked goods that I used to send in. I'm now starting to think that I should have started my baking school in Shanghai. Hmmmm.

We had the precursory dim sum and Amy was quite happy to have Chinese food versus Western food. One solid week of Western food and I figured she was ready to scream. Earlier this week, I did send two containers of homemade congee to hold her over and she was thrilled when Tony showed up at the office with them. She's heading up to Boston for some more meetings before she returns to Shanghai at the end of the week. We hope to have another opportunity to see Amy and the rest of our ATC friends sometime in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll head back and start a cooking school to teach the Chinese how to bake.

Graduation

It has been quite a while since I've written anything. Life seems to be going full speed ahead and it never ceases to amaze me when a period of time has passed that I wonder where it has gone. Case in point. Matthew graduated last night from middle school. It was just three years ago this summer that we returned from living in Shanghai. We returned to adjust to life back in the United States and he had to adjust going to a Catholic school without his friends that he made in Shanghai. It was a rough transition year for him, for all of us to tell you the truth. Now, three years has flown by and he is now out of middle school. He will miss his friends since they'll be attending different schools. Matthew will be attending the district school by the house and he's moving along with this passage of his life.

It dawned on me that college is definitely around the corner and not something that I am ready for. I doubt that I will ever really be ready for that since it forces me to face the fact that he is no longer a baby. He is well on his way to adulthood and there is nothing that I can do to stop it. The braces may be coming off before he starts high school, he'll be getting his drivers permit to learn to drive in a few short years. The voice has definitely changed, he's getting taller slowly. Sometimes when I call home and he answers the phone, it jolts me to hear his voice so deep. He sounds like his father over the phone and it can be a bit confusing. Matthew is on a journey to adulthood that he's anxious to get to quickly, but I am not ready to let him grow up yet. I keep telling him to enjoy this time since you have a lifetime to be an adult. A lifetime of responsibility. Then again, I wanted to grow up quickly and now wished that I can be his age, carefree. Sigh.

Chinese Speech

About two months ago, Matthew was given an assignment in Chinese school. He had to write a speech about his journey in learning to speak Chinese. Easier said than done. The assignment sat on the kitchen table for about two weeks before he even drafted the speech. I had to help him translate some of the words and then convert the speech into pinyin and write out the traditional Chinese characters. He handed the speech in and the teacher modified it a bit and sent it back.

Today was presentation day. All the upperclass had to present their speeches to a panel of judges. OK, he wasn't expecting judges. He thought he just had to read it out loud and then take a bow. He was a good sport. He did recite his speech, though not from memory. All the kids did well today. The speeches are something to help them get comfortable with public speaking in Chinese. Hopefully this will give him more confidence and he'll do it more often.

iPad Happiness

Daily inquiries about whether I've received an email from Apple notifying me of the iPad shipment. Nope. Sometimes you can hear the frustration in his voice when I tell him no. Then suddenly, an email appeared and came a tracking number. After a month of anticipation, Matthew was chomping at the bit to get his iPad. Happy days. The tracking number indicated that it was on the truck to be delivered in Stamford. Finally, the FedEx truck was in the driveway and the package was finally here.

The FedEx driver needed a signature. I signed for it and then told the FedEx guy that I was going to shout out that the package was lost. He asked me not to do that since he knew that would entail a very unhappy person and would probably get him hurt. Just kidding I said. I closed the door and told Matthew that it was a false alarm. The package was for me. A pair of shoes. I know. I just needed to torture him one last time.

He got a hold of the package and was giddy with joy. He opened up the package carefully and finally freed the iPad2 from it's packaging. He promptly set it up and hasn't been without it since then.

Thanks to all who made that moment possible for him. It is a birthday gift that he will cherish for a very long time and will never forget this birthday....ever.

Birthday Celebrations

Another year has gone by and Matthew is now 14 years old. He'll be starting high school in the fall and it never ceases to blow my mind how quickly time has passed. As usual, he had the celebratory dinners to fete his birthday. He had a goal to save up enough money to purchase the iPad2. He was very lucky. He was able to attain his goal due to the generosity of all our loved ones. He was able to order the iPad2 and will now have to wait about 4-6 weeks before delivery.

We had our first celebration with May and the kids, the second celebration with Tony and Gus and the third celebration with Justin. It's an annual ritual to celebrate with Justin since Justin and Matthew entered the world together as cousins and friends as well.It's weird not celebrating with Justin and it's something that Matthew looks forward to. They are going through the same rites of passage together and have common interests. Hard to believe that they will be starting high school this fall and will both be off to college at the same time. Time has passed too quickly and it makes me realize how much older I have gotten. Sigh.

Brutual

I returned home from Budapest only to have to turn around and head down to Atlanta, GA for a week filled with meetings. I got a lot done while I was there. Bonding with colleagues, met with vendors and am pleased to say that I fulfilled a lot of my goals.
While I was there, Tony's father was still in the hospital and waiting to get the date and time for his triple bypass surgery. He was still being treated for sepsis and was getting tired of being at the hospital. Can't say that I blame him. I would have probably been climbing the walls myself if I had been there for that long.

We got the word that the surgery was going to be on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. I was scheduled to return home on Friday afternoon. My boss insisted that I leave on Thursday evening and return home to be with my family. Pulled some strings and got me on a flight out of Atlanta scheduled at 7:40 p.m. Thursday evening. I was supposed to land in LaGuardia in New York at 10:15 p.m. That would be great. It would allow me to get home and be there in the morning so Tony could leave for the hospital and I would be there for Matthew. Mother Nature on the other hand, had other plans. It was pouring rain all day in New York with high winds. Atlanta had a funky weather day as well. Clouds then breaks of sunshine. I got to the airport, dropped off the car, went through security and decided just hang out by the gate. Then the announcement. Due to high winds, the flights to and from New York have been grounded. WTF*(_!!*$)#(*.....does this mean I am sleeping in the airport? I gave up my hotel room.....uh oh.

Miraculously, my flight was called at 9 p.m. and then we were on our way. Landed at LaGuardia around midnight, waited for my luggage and was greeted by 65 mph winds, driving rain and just sheer flooding. My car had to take a diversion and go up I95 for me to get home. All the parkways leading to the house were all shut down. I rolled into the house around 2:30 a.m. Long day at work topped by long travels to get home but at least I was finally home.

Tony headed down to the hospital first thing Friday and was diverted all over the place. We still had rains and the roads were flooded. He got to to the hospital. My father in laws surgery was a success. He had one artery replaced and the surgeons were able to get the artery from the chest versus the leg. Unfortunately, the surgeons had to go through the top of the chest to do the surgery instead of the side as we had hoped.

He's doing well and will have a long recovery ahead of him. I'm planning to stay put for a couple of weeks before I have to take off again.

Heading Home

Day Two of the conference consisted of intense workshops that took up the entire day and I was feeling it. I was up late on Monday night working on the proxy, getting little sleep and then had to be downstair. It was painful. I looked around and all my colleagues were feeling it. After the conference, we had dinner at a local Italian restaurant and rolled back to the hotel at 11 p.m. Of course, I was up late again until 2:30 a.m. working on changes to the proxy statement.

Today was Day Three and the end of our conference. Thank goodness, it was relatively light. We finished up and stampeded out of the hotel for a guided tour of Budapest. Mind you, we had to work on this tour. Throughout the conference, we had designated seats. We were rotated and had to sit with different people for meals and at the conference workshops. I understood the reason was to have you get to know your colleagues and meet everyone. It reminded me of being at a wedding. You didn't know who you were going to get and you weren't allowed to switch seats. To do so, you got called out and then chastised. Ouch.

For the tour, we were put into groups and we had to search for clues throughout the city. Sort of a Survivor game against all the teams. It was cold and it was windy. Two of the teams dropped out. My team and I finished everything. It was nice to see the city during the day, we did a lot of walking and we even took the train. I wished we had more time to explore the city. Part of the assignment, we had to learn a nursery rhyme and repeat it in Hungarian and recite it to all our colleagues. OK- we all learned what we needed to learn and was constantly repeating it under our breaths. The locals thought we were insane.

Afterwards, we had our farewell dinner to close out the conference at Spoons,a floating restaurant. My team and I were able to repeat the nursery rhyme in Hungarian. We did OK. Twenty seconds after it was over, I couldn't recite it even if you paid me. My colleagues and I have spent an awful lot of time together the last few days and we have definitely bonded. Three intense days locked in a conference room, team building exercises and three meals together...you either have to accept the fact that you have to like them or throw in the towel. Luckily, I like them all and we had a great time tonight at our farewell dinner.

So, I have decided not to sleep since I will be leaving for the airport in about an hour. I packed my bags and decided to take a last look at the proxy and sit by the window and watch the snowfall. It is quite pretty to see the snow blanketing Budapest. My last image of the town before I head out. I figure when I get on the plane, I'm probably going to pass out. It will be nice to be home in time for dinner tomorrow and spend some time with the boys. I'll be packing up and leaving again on Monday...this time for Atlanta.

Brutal Schedule

Day one of our legal conference and we all had to hit the ground running. Most of us from the US were hit with jet lag. Mind you, after the dinner event last night, I was up half the night editing the proxy statement with Chanda, my colleague from Duluth, GA. We went to bed around 2 a.m. local time and had to be downstairs for breakfast and at our first event at 8 a.m. We had to be bright eye and bushy tail and I was feeling it.

Powerpoint slides, guest speakers and then we managed to run out of the conference for a tour of the ATM plant that we operate in Budapest. I must say, I was very impressed. In fact, I even offered to stay behind in Budapest and learn to build the ATM's. I watched the workers clock out at 2:30 p.m. on the dot and the shift changed. WOW. They don't leave with anything to work on at home. That's actually not a bad deal. I have been working 17 hour days due to the nature of the time of the year for me. This is proxy season. I have a filing that is due with the Securities Exchange Commission in less than 10 days and I have been working on this document since mid-December. I have been living and breathing this proxy statement and the filing couldn't come soon enough for me.

After our tour of the plant, we were scheduled to be on the dinner cruise and head down the Danube River. It was nice to see the town at night lit up and get a bit of information about the sights around us. The history lesson was really great too since I didn't really have a chance to read up on Budapest. We had authenthic Hungarian food and it was nice to sit and get to know our colleagues from the different offices. It was a shame that we didn't do the cruise during the day but despite the zaniness today, it was nice to be able to bond with my colleagues.

Arrival in Budapest

I had to leave Saturday afternoon to fly to meet my colleagues in Budapest for the legal conference. I said goodbye to my father in law and went over to the airport for my journey to Eastern Europe. I must say, I wasn't too happy with the flight on KLM Airlines. The seats were extremely narrow and there wasn't any legroom. I am not a tall or large person but if it was uncomfortable for me, I can't imagine what it's like for someone who is taller than me. Not to mention, there were screaming babies on the flight and the audio equipment didn't work. Halfway through the movie, they had to shut the system down.

OK- enough whining. I made it into Amsterdam and had a two hour layover. Found Starbucks and was pretty content having my chai latte in the Netherlands. My colleauges and I got on our connecting flight and met up with the balance of our US colleagues in the Budapest airport. We hopped the bus and made our way to the hotel.

We all checked in and threw our stuff into the room and wanted to go see a little bit of Budapest. Well, we kind of forgot that it is Sunday here and lots of things are closed. We wandered around a little bit, found a restaurant that was open and of course, we ate our first meal in Budapest. I had a tasty potato dish with cream and lot of garlic. The kind of chef that makes my heart sing. Afterwards, we managed to find Vaci utca, a main shopping strip and then headed back to the hotel for our first event.

We had dinner with our colleagues from around the world. It was nice to finally meet the faces that went behind the voices on the phone calls and emails that we've been trading back and forth over the past few months. We've got a lot to cover over the next few days. We're going to be spending a lot of quality time together.

Lemonade

This week was an absolutely crazy week. Tony's father was admitted into the hospital with a 103 fever, gallstone issue and as a result, developed sepsis. The doctors removed the stone but wanted to remove the gallbladder. Easier said then done. Tony’s father was being treated for sepsis through an intravenous antibiotic, had developed gout and failed the stress test. We thought he’d get a stent put in but when the doctor’s went in, they found three valves completely clogged. So, gallbladder surgery has been put on hold indefinitely, the sepsis is a very resistant strain and new antibiotics had to be started. Once the sepsis is under control, he’ll go in for open heart surgery to replace the three valves that will need to be replaced. We’re lucky he didn’t have any issues and could have had a fatal heart attack.

While all this was going on, we were waiting to find out if Matthew had been accepted into the magnet high school, Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering. The drawing took place on Friday and we received the notification on Saturday. We all held out hope for the one thing that Matthew wanted the most. To be accepted into the upcoming Fall freshman class for high school. The unfortunate thing is he didn’t make it in. He’s on the official wait list and he came in as number 50 which means, unless 49 kids on the wait list turn down the spot, there is a slim chance in hell that he will be admitted to the school. This came as a total shock and disappointment for Matthew since he was truly looking forward to going to AITE. He felt he was a part of the school and he was excited about the curriculum and the technology. It is unfortunate that he didn’t make it to the school. I can feel his pain and his disappointment from where I am right now. In the midst of all this, I had to leave for Budapest for a legal conference. I was so upset to find out from here that Matthew didn’t make it in and it is the one thing that we all hoped and prayed that he would be accepted to but it is out of our hands. Tony and I will have to decide what to do about which high school to enroll him in for the upcoming Fall semester.

Please don’t take it the wrong way. We count each and every one of our blessings. The fact that the doctor’s discovered my father in law's valve problem by sheer luck and will perform open heart surgery is a major blessing for us. I just know that sometimes life’s disappointments get in the way and we have to find a way to vent out our frustration and pick up our chin and carry forward. I know that Matthew will do well wherever he applies to and this too will be part of his life lesson that when life throws lemons at you, you've got to make lemonade.

Winter Blues

We've been experiencing some pretty nasty winter weather in the area. I was in Atlanta, Georgia for a business trip and had my ear to the weather forecast. We were going to get a storm that was going to wreak havoc across 22 states. Some weather forecasters nicknamed it "The Beast", pretty appropriate if you ask me. We were expecting snow, flooding and ice. Great formula for an adventurous ride home.

My original flight back to New York was cancelled 30 hours before I was even scheduled to take off. I scored a seat on an earlier flight and was going to be on it regardless. Then a miracle happened, I managed to score a seat on the company plane. That works. I knew I was going to get into the area regardless. Getting home from the little airport in New Jersey was going to be another matter.

I beat the storm and made it home and was happy to see the boys. Conditions made it hard to travel to school or work so I worked from home and school was cancelled. All was well until at 8:15 a.m., when we heard a very loud crack and then an explosion and saw a huge fireball on the main road. A tree fell on the road by the house, took out the transformer and blew out the power in the area. We had a live wire in the middle of the driveway and were essentially trapped in the house. I called the power company to report it and was told "Stay in the house. Do not go out." My initial verbal reaction was "Really, I shouldn't go out there and get a jolt of electricity running through my body? Gee, I really wanted to touch the wire." Seriously? OK- sarcasm needs to stop.

The picture posted is the tree that wreaked havoc for us. We didn't have power, heat or water since we're on well water for twelve hours on a cold day. My sister asked if I had enough food in the house. Are you kidding? Those who know me know about my overflowing pantry. Food is never an issue in the house. Cooking it without an oven or microwave was another matter We managed to do pretty well and then the power came back up. We were pretty happy and were busy hovering over the heat vents to warm up.

The Groundhog didn't see his shadow which means we'll have six weeks less of winter. I think the Groundhog knew what he had to do. We're all pretty tired of this weather and giving us a sliver of hope was in the Groundhog's best interest if you know what I mean.

Christmas Miracles

Okay, I don't want to get all religious here, but this past Disney cruise convinced me that miracles do happen. In fact, no less than seven miracles happened on this trip. So let's go to the video tape:

Miracle #1 - Dinner seating (Okay, we will call this a quasi-miracle)
Disney, as well as most cruises ships, makes you sit with people, you don't know, at dinner so that you can socialize. This lasts for the duration of the cruise. Now, don't get me wrong. I like socializing, really, but after a long day in the sun, children and parents tend to be, well, a bit annoying. Dinner is the time to unwind, socializing is the last thing you want to do. Sometimes you get lucky and sit with someone you like. Other times, not so much. Take for example, the family we sat with on the last Disney cruise. It was a single father with his two daughters. The youngest daughter would fall asleep in her plate, literally, while the other one would not stop, talking. She drove me crazy! She would be asking me stupid questions about my shirt or something while her father ate all three dinners. I swear, those kids never had a chance to eat. Needless to say, we were not looking forward to meeting our dinner guests this time around. There are two seating times for dinner, 5:45 pm and 8:00 pm. Most parents want the earlier seating because their children need to be in bed by 8:30. Here's where the miracle comes in. Since Matthew is older now, we decided to changed our seating time to 8:00. This would give us a chance to digest all the other food that we've eaten during the day. As a result, we got our own table. I think we were the only ones on the ship with our own table. No annoying kids, no yelling parents just blissful dining, yeehah.

Miracle #2 - Broken Bus
In the previous blog entry, Susan mentioned that our tour bus broke down in Cozumel on our way from the Mayan ruins. Let me clarify why this was a miracle. Cozumel is a small Mexican island East of the Yucatan peninsula in the Western Caribbean. Only 35% of the island in inhabited, the other 65% is dense forest. In fact, our tour guide told us that there are probably many Mayan temples that have not been discovered yet because of this dense forest. Okay, now, we are stuck on a bus, on the remote side of the island. Yes, there was no electricity, bathroom, food, nothing but Iguanas. So, when the bus motor died, I thought, great, here we are stranded on the side of the road, 45 minutes away from town, in Mexico. We are not going to see the ship or civilization for hours. By the time I finished bitching to my self about the situation, another bus shows up. Holy crap! It took five minutes for the bus to reach us, in fact it didn't even delay our trip. Now you have to admit, that was a miracle.

Miracle #3 - Luggage
Disney can actually check you into the airlines and issue your boarding passes while you're still on the ship. Your luggage is identified with a tag that has all your flight information and they take it straight to the airport. That's Disney for you, you pay through the nose but you get great service. Anyway, I digress, since 9/11, the customs regulations have changed for disembarking the ship. In the past, we reported to the movie theater and everyone got customs approval at once. Now, you need to go through customs and find your bag as you would in an airport. Close to 1600 people disembark from the ship at once, given that an average family has four pieces of luggage you are talking about 6400 bags. Well, we go through customs quickly and begin looking for our bags. Guess what, no bags. We looked everywhere. There is no carousel like in the airport, just a giant room filled with 6400 pieces of luggage. To cover more ground Matthew and I went one way and Susan another. Well after a little panicking and lots of cursing Susan found one bag, in the corner of the room, without a tag on it. Apparently, the tags got ripped off during handling and would probably still be in Florida today if she didn't find it. Matthew found the other two pieces of luggage in a roped off area that was being loaded onto a truck for delivery to the airport. We informed the luggage handler and he placed a new tag on the bag and loaded it in the tuck. Finding one bag in 6400 pieces of luggage is pretty miraculous to me. Lets see if it makes it to LaGuardia.

Miracle #4 & 5 - Missed Connecting Flight

I used my frequent flyer points to fly to and from Florida. The whole flight for the 3 of us, was 30 dollars. Because of that, we had to fly south to Miami, get a connecting flight and then head North to Orlando and visa versa for the return trip. Stupid, right? Then again, what do you expect for 30 dollars? Going down was pretty uneventful. The return trip on the other hand, was not. We missed our connecting flight in Miami due to a delayed takeoff in Orlando. We landed, ran 10 gates which felt more like 10 miles, only to to have the agent close the doors before we could board. This is the same airline as the connecting flight, mind you, but apparently they could not hold the plane for 5 freaking minutes! Missing a flight is bad, but this was not the worst part. You see, a few days earlier the Northeast got pounded with 24 inches of snow. 10,000 flight were cancelled. Hundreds of people were stranded in the airport for days. So what do you think the chances were to get three standby tickets for the next flight? How about slim to none. Okay, it's Thursday night at 6:20 pm. The next confirmed seating the ticket agent could give us was Sunday, yes, I said Sunday. Well, here comes the cursing again which seems to be the only thing I could do at this point. I didn't want to piss off the ticket agent too much because she was the one getting me home. Matthew is panicking, Susan is strangely calm and I've resolved myself to the fact that we are going to be spending some time in this airport. Our standby flight was at 8:20 pm. I plant myself in front of the ticket agent, looking as pathetic as possible so she would not forget that I was there. Everyone boards, things don't look good, then suddenly they call out our names. Miracle #4! Not only did we get on this flight but all our luggage, including the one that Susan found, made it to LaGuardia. How do you like that. We'll count that one as miracle #5. In retrospect, I realized that If they did hold the plane for us to board in Miami, then our luggage would not have arrived in LaGuardia at the same time as we did. So if I have to be stranded in an airport then it might as well be Miami.

Miracle #6 & 7- Snow Removal

This is a bit out of sequence for the story but while we were out at sea, we found out about the snow storm back home. My driveway is 125 feet long on a steep hill so driving up it when there's snow is impossible. As soon as we could get a cell signal, we called our landscaper to plow the driveway. If you've read any of my previous blog postings you'd know that I usually do the snow removal myself. Why, you ask? probably because it involves a power tool. I'm still figuring that one out myself. Anyway, the landscaper informs us that he would like to help us but his plow has broken down. In desperation we asked if he knew someone that could help. He told us that he would check and get back to us, but the call never came. So I expected that we would get home after this hellacious night, have to park the car at the bottom of the hill and wade through 2 feet of snow. The luggage and snow can wait until the morning. It didn't matter anyway. All I wanted to do was sleep in my bed and for this day to be over. It's 2:00 a.m., we are exhausted, I drive up to the house and the driveway is plowed, Miracle #6. The final miracle was that a tree had fallen due to the intense snow storm and high winds and by all logic should have landed on the roof of the house based on it's location, but instead fell to the right, defying all laws of physics, Miracle #7

The next day we went out and bought power ball tickets hoping to ride the miracle train one more time but to no avail. I guess it was a bit greedy but it was worth a shot.

Christmas Holiday

We've been really busy the past few months and haven't been writing as much on the blog. We hit the holiday season with the usual mad rush of picking up gifts, mailing out the holiday cards and all the other zany things that happens with the holiday season. We hosted the Christmas holiday dinner the Saturday before we were leaving for our vacation, crazy I know. We were going to set sail and visit the Western Caribbean. We were pretty excited about this trip. School, work and other day to day activities have taken a toll on all of us. We were anxious to detach ourselves from email, voicemail and other daily obligations.

We had the usual suspects at the holiday bash. We had a roasted turkey and all the other side dishes that go along with it. As soon as I packed up the Christmas china and stemware, I pulled out the luggage for the frantic packing. Murphy's law, you know how it is. The way you want things to work out, never really does. The day before we were going to leave, I had planned to work at home. It was going fine until the call I was on pretty much summed up that I was needed in the office. I had to high tail myself down to New York and was stuck working at the office pretty late. OK- it's all good. We're leaving tomorrow. I can finish any packing in the morning before we leave. Nope. The day we were going to leave, I was tied up on conference calls all morning dealing with the last minute emergencies. Running around on the phone and trying to finish the packing didn't go as planned. I resolved myself to whatever is missing, I'll just deal without it. Ran out of the house, picked up Matthew from school, threw him in the car and high tailed ourselves to the airport.

We made it to Florida and I wasn't able to unwind. We were leaving from Port Canaveral on the Disney Wonder the next day and sailing to Key West. Nope, not feeling the "ah" moment yet. My mind was racing with a million things in my head to do for the office. I was worried about Matthew's midterm exams, Chinese homework assignments, Kumon assignments and all the other things that run around in my head. While we were in Key West, I was still able to see emails from work and though I was far away, I wasn't far enough.

We sailed to the next port. We arrived in Grand Cayman on Boxing Day. Not a great day to arrive on the island since it is a holiday. We didn't find a whole heck of a lot going on so we wandered back to the ship. OK- so my phone doesn't work, I don't have emails coming in. For that, I was beginning to feel a bit detached. So detached, that we didn't realize that a blizzard just dumped a ton of snow in the Northeast and screwed up air travel. Ignorance is bliss and I can surely attest to that.

We sailed off to the next location. Cozumel, Mexico. Now, we're talking. I'm now starting to unwind a bit, catch up on a lot of reading and took a historical tour through San Gervasio,one of the largest Mayan ruins. Not bad. Got a lesson on history, got some sun, spent a nice day in Mexico. Murphy's law, when things are going well, something is bound to get screwed up and it was on our last part of the Mayan tour that we experienced our first miracle. Our tour bus broke down in the middle of no where. We were about 25 minutes from the center of town. The tour guide called in for a replacement bus which will take about 30 - 40 minutes to reach us to pick us up. We were running up against the time to be on board to the ship and we were wondering if we were going to be stuck here and the ship will set sail without us. Then out of no where, another tour bus picked us up since it saw us stranded on the side of the road. If it weren't for that bus, who knows, Matthew may be mashing guacamole dip on the side of the road and selling it in order to sustain us until we got rescued. OK- my imagination gets the better of me. We made it back to port on time and we were on our way to our next stop.

Last stop, Castaway Cay. Disney's private island. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, a bit on the cool side, but I must say, it was quite nice. Read on the beach, got some sun, I was digging this. I can get into the island life. While there, we started to hear about the snowstorm that screwed up the Christmas holiday air travel. Well, all I can say is I timed this trip perfectly. If we left the day after Christmas, we would have been sleeping on the airport floor instead of on the beach. The news of the snowstorm snapped me right back to reality. So much for the "ah" moment. It as great while it lasted.

I got this figured out

We went to the employee appreciation day party at Lake Compounce this weekend. After a quick lunch, Matt and I went on Thunder Rapids. Another family joined us and their young daughter, who was not dressed to get soaking wet, was convinced that the she figured out the ride. Now you have to understand, this is basically a raft that travels freely down a man made river. There is no way that you are not going to get wet. If the white water doesn't get you, the water fall will. Needless to say, she got wet, I mean really wet, down to her underwear wet. And of course, Matthew and I were laughing our butts off. To me, this experience was a metaphor for life, just when you figure it out you get wet underwear. I guess that's okay as long as you have fun on the ride.

Taxson Family Visit

Just as we finished off the bathroom and I've resigned from my job, Marty, Irene and Zee showed up on our doorsteps. The last time we saw each other was a year ago in Aruba. We had a great time catching up on things and were sad that Andrea and Anne were not able to join us for this gathering. Irene, Andrea, Anne and I used to roam all over the streets of Shanghai together and it would have been great to have the four of us together again. We'll need to schedule another reunion at a different location so we can all be together, just like old times.

Irene and her family were just coming off the cruise from the Queen Mary 2 where they sailed from the UK and arrived into NY. They showed up like gypsies with all their luggage and we were pleased to have them here. We spent the first day over a grilled lunch and caught up on all the news. We took the kids down to the beach and then headed over to Greenwich to get some dinner and gelato. Matthew in particular knows good food and ice cream. He will not be deprived and was pleased to show his friend around.

The kids had a fascination with Times Square so off we went into the city. Most of the day was spent at places that the kids wanted to visit - Toys R Us, the M&M Store and the Hershey store. We managed to wander up to Central Park for a short stroll and ended the day with a fabulous Japanese ramen meal.

We headed up to Mystic Aquarium the next day. We had a chance to watch a show with the beluga whales and the kids had a chance to feed the cow nosed rays and were pretty involved with the touch tanks. It was really nice that they had a great time with one another. We spent their last day laying low since we were running out the door pretty early in the morning. Just as quickly as they arrived with their luggage, they disappeared to move onto their next venue. They are truly a family on the move. It was great to have a chance to catch up with Marty, Irene and Zee. We'll be making plans for our next reunion. Any suggestions for the next venue?

Done

Tony's been working on the final touches for the past few nights. The bathroom vanity was moved back after he installed our medicine cabinets. We cleaned up the master bedroom and have officially moved back in. The drawback, we weren't able to take showers in our newly renovated bath since the tiles haven't been sealed. Our friends will be arriving tomorrow so he had an incentive to finish up everything by this evening. I heard a sigh of relief when he put the last coat of sealant on the marble.

The bathroom is officially done. It is almost unreal that we've come this far and it is now actually complete. He has some minor items to finish up like light plates and touching up the paint. The fact that we can now take showers or jacuzzi baths is a real accomplishment. Tony described construction to a man is like labor to a woman. You go through all that work, you feel the pain and you just don't want to do it. You know there is an end but you just don't know when it will be. After the labor and the pain is long forgotten, you want to do it all over again. If he wants to do it again, I have a few more projects that need to be done. I'll let him have a recovery period and have him start all over again. Stay tuned.

So long, farewell

I am always a believer of things happening for a reason. In the midst of all the construction drama, I received a call from a former colleague from International Paper who asked if I would be interested in joining her company for a position. I said why not. I interviewed and was offered a job with NCR. I accepted and gave notice to my company. I spent the past two weeks finishing up projects, writing out memos and passing the torch to the designated recipient of my unfinished assignments.

Today was my last day. In my short tenure, I've made many friends. Many of whom I will miss interacting with on a daily basis. I will always remember the laughs and the tears that came along with the frustration that I would encounter. I know the noise level will go down substantially without me and there will definitely be a level of calm in place but I am truly looking forward to my new adventure at NCR.

Almost

Tony was chugging along with the bathroom renovations and then came to a screeching halt. We had experienced a tornado that came through the area. Driving rain, high winds and hail managed to knock out our power for two days. Luckily, the weather wasn't that hot and we were able to get by. It really sucked that it took two days before our power was restored. We had sustained some food loss but all in all, we did OK. Tony managed to pick up where he left off and was busy installing the lights. One problem, the light fixture had a cover that didn't totally hide the back plate for the wiring. Being the engineer that he is, he used the spare marble that we had and custom made a fitting to finish off the bathroom lighting fixture. It came out fabulous. It was the perfect finishing touch.

He was on a roll and had to finish off the border around the bathroom. The vent cover was hitting the marble so he went ahead and customized it. He was busy out in the garage cutting off a small amount at a time. I'm glad that he took the time to finish off the details. When he installed it, it looked fabulous. Matthew commented that the bathroom looks like the hotels that we've been to. I agree. The color of the bathroom, the details that he went into have been totally worth it. He's got to install the medicine cabinets and seal the tiles and then we'll be ready to really enjoy the bathroom. The goal is to get it done before our friends arrive next weekend.

Not quite there yet

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. The shower door was installed today. After a week of it sitting in the garage, it was quite nice to come home today and find it installed. We'll have to wait for the silicone to cure but it is quite lovely to look at. The work is coming along when Tony has the time to work on it. I feel bad since he's doing the work after hours when he gets home from his day job. The punch list is getting smaller and I am sure he'll be really thrilled when this project is completely over. Looks like I'll have to find something else for him to do around the house. Any suggestions?

Progress

Tony returned to work and has been working on the renovations at night. He's pretty tired after a long day at the office but he's chugging along. We had a problem with the water pressure in the house the other night. A couple of days go by and we still couldn't figure out what the problem was. The other day, I look out in the yard and I find a whole flock of birds bathing in our backyard. Aw....how cute I say to myself. Then I realize there is a river running through the back yard. What the heck, it rained but it didn't rain that much. I go out to investigate and find out that there was a hole in my well hose. We had to shut down the water and the pump and vacate to a hotel. As a result, Tony lost a few days of construction work and was anxious to get started again. We returned to the house, the repairs were made to the well hose and Tony quickly picked up where he left off. The marble tiles went up fairly quickly and he even installed the bathroom floor by Saturday evening.


Happy days! We waited the mandatory 24 hours before he started to walk on it. He was biting on his nails since he was afraid he was going to hear the tiles crack like potato chips. Since it didn't crack, he started to grout the tiles. The grout was sponged on and we waited for it to cure. We returned home this evening and Tony proceeded to polish the haze off the tiles. I can't believe how beautiful the marble looks. We can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. All that's left is to install the toilet, install the bath and shower fixtures, hang the medicine cabinets (we hope they arrive this week), wire up the lights and the get bathtub enclosure installed. We can move the vanity back in and start the clean up of the master bedroom and bathroom. I am optimistic that the construction process will be completed by this weekend. This gives me ample time to clean up the master bedroom and move out of the guest room. We'll have the guest room ready by the time our friends arrive in early August for their visit with us.

Break Time

Tony has been trapped in the house for the past two weeks. He's been working really hard. He cleaned up and I decided it was time for a road trip. Matthew and I recently watched an episode on the Travel Channel about the birthplace of the original hamburger sandwich. It originated in a place called Louis' Lunch in 1900 and is located in New Haven. What the heck. Distance never stopped me from getting to food. We hopped in the car and drove up to New Haven to grab dinner.

Louis' Lunch is a very small establishment. There is one catch. You don't get any ketchup or fries with the burger. It is still made in the original equipment from 1895. The burger is grilled in an original cast iron grill and served between two slices of white toast. The only acceptable garnish is cheese, tomato and onion. Ask for ketchup and you will be thrown out of the establishment. We arrived and found people all over the place. You may get potato salad or dirty chips as your side. We ordered the burgers we wanted and found seats and waited patiently for our food. The burgers were good. So good that Tony and Matthew had seconds.

Walls are in

Tony's been busy putting finishing off the new walls. Everyday I return from work and I am amazed at how much he has accomplished. Today, the walls have been completely installed, spackled and sanded down. The amount of construction dust floating around the house is unreal. I can't go anywhere without finding a film of it in every room. I know that the house has to be completely sanitized at least twice before I can actually say that it's clean. I don't like construction but when you can actually see the progress, it's worth it. Tony will complete this and start installing the marble on the wall. He's going to have to cut out the marble to fit around the tub and shower fixtures. It's going to be interesting to see how that progresses along.

Tub Installation

Tony's cranking along. Not bad for a first time bathroom renovator. We worked on getting the plumbing done for the new tub. It's an air jet tub that allows the water to circulate and not harbor mold and mildew. Something that is quite important to me. I never liked the thought of water sitting dormant in a jacuzzi tub and having it blow back out the next time you turn it on.

Tony and I worked together to lift the tub into the house and had to install and reinstall the tub three times. The tub kept hitting a beam in the bathroom and Tony had to shave it down to get it to fit. The third time was the charm. I was happy that I didn't have to lift it anymore and he's now busy installing the rest of the hardware.